6 month old - 9 ear infections and 4 burst eardrums!

[FlossIsMe]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone else has had similar issues?

It's a bit of a long story but I'll try and keep it brief! My DD is 6 months old. For the last 3 months she's suffered 9 ear infections, had 6 courses of antibiotics and her eardrum has perforated 4 times now (same ear every time!). She's in complete agony and I feel helpless.

The GP is being a bit unhelpful. She saw a paediatrician for a separate issue and they noticed her mucky ear and took swabs and said she needs to see a specialist. The GP took 2 weeks dictating the referral letter (!) but we finally got an ENT referral for 11 weeks from now and I'm struggling with the thought of her suffering in agony with infections pretty much weekly until then.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences? And what was the outcome? I guess she's too young for grommets but I'm worried about long term hearing problems etc.

The health visitor is trying to help push things along but I think we're ultimately going to have to pay and go private to get her seen because I can't keep seeing her in so much pain! Any advice or comments would be gratefully received!!

we had this with DS. It was a cows milk allergy. Try switching to a non dairy formula for a couple of weeks and see if it helps. Also cut all dairy in weaning foods. If you are BF, go dairy free.

AFter a couple of weeks, ds was a different child. However, we never found out about this until he was over a year. He had grommets fitted in another country at 10 months - they wont do them in the UK until they are much older.

2 weeks into a dairy free diet, his ears were clear, his eczema cleared up, he started sleeping better. We kept him dairy free until 3yo.

I have this problem with ds (3) he has glue ear in both ears, I kept taking him to the doctors every time he had ear infections, was given antibiotics every time, ended up in a and e with him screaming and high temp with goo coming out both ears, a and e department transferred to hospital to see an ent specialist and we were seen within 3 weeks, were now on a course of amoxicillin 5ml spoon every night and the specialist is reviewing him for gromits when the course has finished. Its awful seeing them in pain hope she gets better soon

Thank you both so much for your responses!!

Wow I'd never considered allergies! I'll definitely try going dairy free and see if that helps!

Sorry to hear about your DS! I have a lot of sympathy for you! Ive considered taking her to A&E when it kicks off because she's inconsolable. Hope you get sorted soon!

This sounds like ds (only not quite as bad)

Ds started ear infections at 10 weeks. he had them constantly every 10 days until he had grommets in at 20 months.
Grommets lasted about 18 months.
Then that winter he had 8 burst ear drums in 8 weeks.
Second set of grommets at 3.6yo.
Out 1 year later.
Third set of grommets at 6yo, when they found his ear drums were bulging with the pressure.

He's now 9yo and doesn't have ear infections as much now. He does still have glue ear, and he has regular check ups at ENT.

Dairy free made no difference to him.

My daughter was very prone to ear infections and burst ear drums when she was younger. I started using a saline nasal spray each time she got a cold to keep things more fluid up there and that made a real difference. Might be worth a try.

Also came here to suggest cow's milk might be a problem. It's not the only thing that can cause this but it can contribute.

My son had similar it was awful! It did however just stop happening (touch wood) around 18 months. Apparently the tiny tubes in the ears develop and grow so fluid can move more easily and doesn't get blocked up. In the meantime though you have my sympathy, so miserable for them.

This is me! DS started nursery at 1yo and in 6 months had several ear infections that abx wouldn't shift. He would have pus coming out of his ears and occasionally a fever. Referred to ENT who said to young for grommets. This was at 18 months and gave him 3 month course of Trimethroprim sp? I wasn't convinced all the abx were helping and changed diet/milk no difference but I did give prebiotic drinks. I was still desperate and looked at Osteopathy and OMG the difference was amazing! I thoroughly recommend it. Ear infections dramatically reduced. Maybe 1 or 2 in 6 months. As opposed to 7 that he had 6 months prior!!

Ring the hospital and ask if you can be put on the cancellation appointment lists and say you are prepared to go at short notice.

Thank you so much for all your responses! I spoke to the hospital to complain and they agreed she shouldn't have to wait so long. We're now being seen next week. I'm hanging all my hopes on them giving us some good news! But I'll definitely be trying all your suggestions in the meantime! :-)

My DD suffered terribly her ear drums did not burst and she developed a mastoid abscess and required emergency surgery at 5 months old.
We had three years of repeat infections and very close monitoring by a top paeds ENT team. She had around 15 courses of antibiotics a year for those three years. At three and half she had a growth spurt and that clearly included her eustacian tubes and it resolved.
Sadly she has some level of hearing loss due to the damage to her ear drums and still lip reads, particularly in noisy classrooms. Though in spite of this at 13 she has perfect pitch and is an amazing singer with a really powerful voice.